1. Field of the Invention:
This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for producing improved stable bedding, and specifically to a method and apparatus for treating wood waste with edible oils to render it more suitable for animal stable bedding.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Stable bedding plays an important role in animal health, safety, and comfort. Expensive and treasured animals such as horses, dairy cows, and even zoo animals would benefit from an improved stable bedding. The discussion below is mainly directed to horse bedding, but all types of animals housed in stables experience similar benefits from these improvements.
Horses confined to a stable require bedding. A daily cleaning of the stall, and the periodic removal and disposal of the bedding is a critical task in maintaining the good health of a horse.
Most parasites that affect horses have a life cycle that begins with the infection of a horse through its feed or water.The parasites mature in the digestive tract of the horse. They produce eggs while in the horse, which pass out through the animal's feces. Most parasitic infections of horses can be attributed to the fact that, as a domestic animal, horses have been forced to sleep and eat in close proximity to their own feces.
Horses are subject to more than 150 different kinds of internal parasites throughout the world; in this country, they are subject to approximately 75 species of parasites. See generally M. E. Ensminger, Horses and Horsemanship, 5th edition, 1977, page 315-16. It is widely recognized that animal health is closely related to sanitary stable practices.
Stable bedding serves to absorb the moisture from animal urine and feces. The bedding can be removed periodically along with the dried feces. The bedding allows for a more rapid and thorough cleaning of the stable. Accordingly, the risks of parasitic infection are reduced through the use of stable bedding.
It is recommended that the bedding be approximately six inches deep. See Jack Coggins, The Horseman's Bible, 2nd edition, 1984, page 59-56. The minimum amount of bedding to be used is the amount necessary to absorb completely the liquids in the manure. This minimum amount can itself be sizable.
On average, a thousand pound horse will excrete eight tons of manure in a year. Twenty percent of a horse's excrement is in liquid form, for a yearly total of 3,200 pounds of liquid. The amount of bedding needed will, of course, depend upon the water absorption capacity of the bedding material.
Bedding materials can vary widely in their absorption capacity. For example, dry sand will absorb twenty-five pounds of water per hundredweight. Air dry long wheat straw will absorb 220 pounds per hundredweight, while chopped wheat straw will absorb 295 pounds of water per hundredweight.
Sawdust can absorb between 150 to 250 pounds per hundredweight, depending on the type of woods, either pine or hardwood. Wood chips can absorb between 150 to 300 pounds of water per hundredweight, again depending upon the types of woods. Wood shavings can absorb between 150 to 200 pounds of water per hundredweight, once again depending upon the types of woods.
Thus, for a twenty-four hour confinement, the minimum daily bedding requirements for horses, based on uncut wheat or oat straws is ten to fifteen pounds. See generally Ensminger, Horses and Horsemanship, 5th edition, 1977, pages 417-21.
A variety of materials can be used for stable bedding. These include straws, peanut hulls, sand, leaves, tree bark, peat moss, ground corn cobs, and wood waste which includes sawdust, wood chips, and wood shavings.
Wood shavings are usually produced when lumber is planed. They are very thin slices of wood. Sawdusts are the fine particles produced when lumber is sawed. The term "wood chips" serves to describe small pieces of wood that are neither shavings nor sawdust. The term "wood waste" serves to describe wood shavings, sawdust, and wood chips.
Of the wood waste beddings, wood shavings are preferred. In Elements of Stable Management, Barnes & Company, 1975, by Carol R. Melcher, sawdust is compared to wood shavings. Ms. Melcher states that sawdust is not a good bedding simply because it is too "flyaway". The sawdust will get into the horses eyes, or lungs. The inhalation of sawdust will set up an irritation in the lungs that will lead to breathing disorders later. Moreover, if the sawdust cannot be expelled through coughing, chronic lung infections may be produced.
The threat posed to a horse's health by airborne sawdust is not to be underestimated. The principal use for most horses is related to their athletic ability. Thus, physical fitness in "wind and limb" is of paramount concern. Diseases that affect the respiratory system, and interfere with the horse's wind, have potential to render an animal useless.
One commonly recognized ailment is associated with the inhalation of dust, pollen or mold spores. This is known as the "heaves". This disease resembles asthma or emphysema in humans. It is a loss of elasticity of the lungs that results from a breakdown of the walls of the lungs. The condition is characterized by an apparent extra contraction of the flank muscles during expiration.
The heaves can be caused by dusty hay, dusty atmosphere, severe exertion of an out of condition horse, or respiratory infections. It is considered to be a serious unsoundness. See generally Melvin Bradley, Horses: A Practical and Scientific Approach, McGraw Hill, 1981, page 132; and 1984 Yearbook of Agriculture: Animal Health Livestock and Pets, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1984, pages 534-36.
In addition, it is more difficult to keep a horse clean when sawdust is used as a bedding. It has a tendency to get in the horse's coat and make it look dusty all the time, while shavings are easily shaken free from the horse's coat by its movements. See generally Melcher, Elements of Stable Management, chapter 3.